Owe the county money? – County to cross out prospective contractors

By Elsa Maxey

If you intend to do business with Fort Bend County, here’s a heads up. As a vendor of services, professional and otherwise, any outstanding tax or fee indebtedness owed to the county in all likelihood will prohibit you from being awarded a bid or contract.

In one of its latest actions, the Fort Bend County Commissioners approved a policy involving contracting with a person indebted to it.

Fort Bend County currently has a policy similar to it, said a county official, and it has to do with using federal funds. The county looks into making sure that its contractors have met their obligations in relation to taxes and fees owed to the federal government. Otherwise, Fort Bend County cannot award them the contract, said the official.

At the county level, now that this policy is in place, road materials, fuel, office supplies, “whatever we buy before we award the contract, we check the status of that vendor’s tax payments to the county, (and) we make sure they are not indebted to the county before we award them,” said Gilbert Jalomo of the county’s purchasing department.

Fort Bend County’s tax office is reported to have been working on the matter and it helped to develop a form. So, when a bid from a prospective contractor is submitted, their information will be reviewed. Jalomo said that the county will check only those bidding that have the potential to be awarded the bid.

Posted by FortBendStar
on Jun 6 2012. Filed under Breaking News, News.
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